Knights in Coloured Spandex
by 3Keys21Mind
Summary: "Bart would always be thankful that he had the chance to crash his timeline. That doesn't mean he ever forgot it happened- or the people in it." Oneshots


**Title:** Grandpa  
 **Summary:** This Time was better, but sometimes, Bart couldn't help but miss his own. 2107 words  
 **Complete:** 22/01/15

" _Very funny, Grandpa Hal!_ "

Bart buried his face deeper into the pillow, vaguely hoping he would suffocate in the fabric so he didn't have to go back downstairs and face his humiliation.

There was a very particular reason Bart avoided being introduced to the Earth's First Green Lantern despite every fiber of his being wanting to do nothing but envelop the unsuspecting man in a hug he would never let go of.

Stupid stupid.

He was too slow (ironically) to stop his Grandfather from guiding him through the crowd of heroes to the door when Hal arrived to the twin's baby shower. Of course, a part of that may have been because he _wanted it to happen._ Under the grip on his shoulder, Bart's muscles had been jumping in trepidation and excitement every agonizing second he spent under the watchful brown eyes of the Lantern across the room.

Bart had never been more prideful than the moment Barry introduced him to Hal and John as his grandson. He was over the moon! He had dreamt of a moment like that his whole life! His chest had instantly puffed out and the smile that broke out across his face was insanely contagious— the Lanterns had instantly lit up with him; that cocky smile that lifted only the right side of Hal's thin lips but brought more light to his face than his ring ever could.

" _I know you're getting up there, Old Man. But there's no way this kid is your grandson! Are you sure you aren't Iris' brother?_ " Bart couldn't help the easy laugh Hal had ripped from him. Bart should have expected a line like that from Hal—a piece of him did. He used to hear it all the time.

Gramma Iris had died when Bart a toddler, but the soft smile on his Aunt Dawns' face after Hal had used a similar line on her was one of his fondest memories of her.

In hindsight, his excitement was probably the cause for his slip up. " _Very funny, Grandpa Hal!_ " Bart's heart had screeched to a halt, his stomach dropped into his feet and breath hitched so painfully at his slip up, he wasn't even sure how he had managed to run all the way up the stairs and into his – _Wallys_ \- room.

He had told the founding members about his timeline after the events in the Arctic. He didn't see the harm, seeing as very little would happen now that he had crashed his timeline; Dick, Kaldur and Barry were all alive and Wally was— What would it matter if he told them some general details?

He had left out relationships and made up names for members the League hadn't heard of yet. Those still had the potential to happen and he wouldn't _dare_ interfere with them. He wanted the chance to meet as many Leaguers of his generation as possible.

But he also wanted the nights he spent curled up in a dingy cave with Artemis, making up stories of Knights in Colored Spandex. He missed sky watching with Conner and going for supply-hikes through boulder fields with Hal. He couldn't do any of that—he'd given that up to save his friends and to have the opportunity to meet his paternal grandfather and it was worth it a _thousand times over_... but he couldn't help being lonely.

These were different incarnations of his family. Terry and Jade wouldn't be around for another 30-ish years to train with him and Lian was too small to spy on a Batman with.

 _He just wanted to go home. His home with his family and his Grampa—_

"Bart," he nearly jumped out of his skin when Barry called his name through the door. His breath was too ragged to tell him to go away and he didn't bother to try. He knew the blonde speedster would come in regardless of what Bart said. He entered the room, softly clicking the door shut behind him and stalking slowly through the room, on guard as if he expected the younger speedster to make a break for it. It was probably a good bet though, because Bart was suddenly feeling _incredibly_ claustrophobic.

"Come on Sport, up you come," Bart let the older man pull his face out of the pillow with minimal effort, gasping for breath once he was pulled safely into his arms. He closed his eyes and focused on the strong grip keeping him against his grandfather's chest while he tried to even his breathing out.

"What happened?" he quietly probed. "You left the party awful quick."

Bart scoffed and tried his hardest to push his practiced persona to the front of his mind. "Little awkward—being around for your father's baby shower, Gramps."

Barry mumbled a response, stroking Bart's hair absently. 'Gramps' was only used when Bart was trying to hide something big— While he knew that Bart was trying to mask his anxiety, he wasn't sure that particular tell was a habit Bart knew he had, but the older speedster capitalized on it.

"Didn't have anything to do with Hal?" Bart's breath hitched and his body tensed again, causing Barry to pull the boy tighter and whisper comforting words into his ear. "I can ask him to leave—"

"Don't!" he croaked pitifully, making Barry's own heart freeze in his chest. "Please don't..."

"I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong, Bart." It was quiet for eternity—or it felt like it when the normally jovial teen was curled up in Barry's lap, staring blankly at the door. He'd open his mouth to speak a couple of times, but nothing came out.

"Hal Jordan looked after Gramma when you—" Barry didn't make Bart finish the comment, just pulled the boy impossibly closer. "He... he lost his ring. He didn't want to stay on the Watch Tower, so Gramma let him stay here..."

"Hal lost his ring?" he questioned. Bart was starting to get a far-off tone to his voice as his spoke, Barry wasn't even sure the boy heard him.

J'onn insisted that these lapses were a symptom of his PTSD, and the best way to handle them was just to support Bart. Without a solid goal in mind, it seemed that the young speedster had a harder time holding himself together, so Barry held him as he dreamily rambled on about things about his time that he was terrified he was forgetting. It was certainly unnerving and Barry had hardly liked a story to slip past his grandson's lips in these fits, but he always kept the boy locked to his side until he was better.

"It's easy to be brave when you don't have anything to lose... but then he lost the Flash—his best friend... and the will to fight." Barry's own breath hitched at that.

He and Hal were close, but were they really so close that Hal would lose all will to be a Lantern without him?

"He was so heartbroken... But everyone said he kept face for Gramma's sake. Whenever he was feeling moded, Dinah insisted Gramma would have died from a broken heart without him... and then Dad and Aunt Dawn were born, he loved them so much and he got a Blue Lantern: _Hope_... but he still stayed with Gramma... she needed help with the Tornado Twins and Wally had his hands full with Artemis and—" he gasped for air, letting out a horrible wheezing sound, but pressed on. "I guess Arte's mom used to tell her that twins were lovers reincarnated, so when her babies were born, they were Barry and Iris," Bart choked on a sob and Barry almost joined him at the mention of his lost nephew.

He knew he would never stop missing the man he considered his son. He supposed, at Bart's confession, that he would now get to morn the great niece and nephew he'd never get to meet as well.

"John, Guy, Kyle, Simon, Milagro... Grandpa Hal would disappear for nights at a time when they died... He vanished for a week each when Gramma, Wally, Aunt Dawn and Dad, Uncle Bruce, Oliver and—" Another sob tore through Bart's defences and Barry's heart broke again. At this point, Barry couldn't identify half of the names being listed from his grandson -Great heroes to be, he was sure- but he could tell that losing them had done something irreparable to his namesake and the post-apocalyptic version of his best friend. Even though he had no idea who they were, Barry couldn't help but be sad for them too. It was such a long list of names and he was sure that every one of them had died protecting each other from the Reach. As noble a death as any but it didn't make it any easier to swallow. "But he always came back; He hugged Bear and Irey and me..."

"He was never as happy as he was around a Flash-legacy. Stupid Damian. I didn't _have_ to be the one to go back," he cried, clutching desperately to his Grandfather's sweater vest. "Damian _made_ me. He made me leave Grandpa Hal because I was the last... I don't even—" He babbled until his voice cut off. After that and Barry just let him cry in his arms.

Like many of the names her couldn't identify, Barry didn't know who this 'Damian' was, but he almost wanted to find him in this time period and pummel him—or hug him. He had gotten Bart out of hell, but not without his scars. He wanted to be mad at him for causing his Grandson's grief, but knew it wasn't fair to blame him. Bart might be dead by now if he had never sent him to the past—and if that wasn't bad enough, Iris would certainly be without him if not for Bart.

Another ten minutes passed and Bart was drifting into a fitful sleep against the blonde when the pilot slipped his head in the door.

"He ok?" he questioned quietly, vaguely knowing why Barry had vanished. Barry shrugged. He wasn't really sure how Bart was right now.

"He was worried about you," seemed to be the only way Barry could describe the incident.

"Me? Wha'd I do?" the other hero asked incredulously, blinking confusedly.

"Nothing. I guess he used to be pretty close to you before he came back."

"Oh..." Hal answered, not sure what else to say. He sat beside his friend in companionable silence for what felt like an hour before Barry spoke.

His face was so serious; Hal wasn't sure what was going through the Flash's mind.

"Be their god-father." Hal nearly fell off the bed in surprise at the declaration.

"M-me?" he choked out. "Do you _know_ me? Bear, I'm not great with kids—" Barry turned slightly to the Lantern and tipped his head in confusion, concerning the Lantern even more. Barry hadn't really noticed it before, but Hal had been calling him 'Bear' for years—and despite never meeting this timeline's Hal before tonight, that was the same nickname Bart had just called his cousin.

"I have it from a _very_ experienced source that you _are_ ," he argued, gesturing to the boy asleep in his lap. "Hal, if something were to happen to me..." Hal wouldn't meet his gaze. Barry knew Hal _hated_ the thought of anything ever happening to a member of the League or Team, but he _had_ to get this out.

He lived a dangerous lifestyle and he wanted to make sure that his family was always looked after. Apparently, Hal would step up to the plate without him asking, but he wanted his best friend to know he had faith in him.

"Fine fine, whatever," the Green Lantern dismissed suddenly, throwing his hands in the air dramatically and nearly leaping from his spot as if it had burned him. "I'll do it. Can we go enjoy your wife's baby shower now? I totally wanna watch Dinah and Iris smash Ollie's face in—I have it on good word he got you guys something that is definitely _not_ for the twins," he added with a wink.

Barry blushed and rolled his eyes, but laid his hazel eyed namesake properly onto the bed, covered him in the old floral blanket of Iris' he always used when he stayed over, kissed his forehead and let Hal follow him out of the room.

"It was nice to meet you, Bart. Sleep tight, Kid." the space marine whispered into the quiet room before making his way down stairs.


End file.
